"Most gladly would I, but I have a work to perform in your village;
and, beside, I cannot leave my sister."

"But she is so dark and sad, why not leave her to go alone?" said the
youngest girl, who had never seen Sorrow nor heard of her mission to
earth before.

Sorrow was standing in the door and heard her remark. She hoped
the day would never come when _she_ should have to carry woe to her
young heart; but her life was so uncertain she knew not who would be
the next whom she would have to envelop in clouds. She sighed, plucked
a rose, and pressed it to her nostrils, as though it was the last
sweetness she would ever inhale.

"How I pity her!" said the grandmother, her warm, blue eyes filling
with tears, as she looked at the bowed form in the doorway.

"Ah, good woman, she needs it; for few recognize her mission to them.
She is sent by our master to administer woes which contain heavenly
truths, while I convey glad tidings. I shall never leave my sister save
when our labors are divided."

Thus spoke Joy, while tears filled the eyes of all.

Then the kind woman went and plucked some roses and gave them to
Sorrow, who was weeping.

"I did not half know myself," she said, addressing the sad form; "I
thought I could see God's angels everywhere, but this time how have I